Movie theater proposed for Fountain Square

A proposal for a movie theater, on a parcel a block south of Fountain Square’s iconic fountain, could restore some luster to what was once was a thriving theater district.
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Fountain Square could get an art house movie theater if Indianapolis city officials select the proposal over two competing efforts to develop a city-owned parking lot.

Developers submitted proposals this month for the parking lot at 1202 S. Shelby St., next to a police station a block south of Fountain Square. One proposal includes a movie theater, confirmed Adam Thies, director of the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development. All three have a residential component, he said, and some of the proposals also include retail.

Citing state development laws, the department is withholding the three proposals and the names of the developers from public release until it makes a selection in coming weeks. It then will make all of the proposals public.

“They’re all mixed-use proposals in some way,” Thies told The Indianapolis Star on Monday. “I know one of them has some movie theater components.”

The project could draw more people to the entertainment district, which has been on the upswing in recent years with new bars, restaurants and performance venues opening alongside older businesses.

Linton Calvert, owner of the nearby Fountain Square Theatre Building, said the Fountain Square Merchants Association has sent a letter to DMD in support of the movie theater proposal.

The developer, which Calvert wouldn’t identify, envisions a six-screen theater with offerings that include independent and art house movies, Calvert said.

“This idea is top-notch,” said City-County Council member Jeff Miller, who represents that part of Fountain Square.

A movie theater could restore some luster to what once was a thriving theater district.

“Fountain Square was known for theaters between the 1920s and 1950s,” Calvert said, and his own building once housed a movie theater with 1,500 seats. Before that, it hosted vaudeville shows. “At one time there were seven theaters operating.”

But then theater development in suburbs such as Greenwood, as well as Downtown Indianapolis, slowly drew customers away.

“With automobiles, people could go anywhere,” he said, “and the drive-in theaters really became popular around the 1950s.”

The 0.77-acre parking lot that’s slated for development is owned by the Department of Public Safety and is next to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Southeast District headquarters. It’s a block south of the main square where Virginia Avenue intersects with Prospect Street and Shelby.

The police station will stay put.

Because any development could block the view of the police station from Shelby Street, Miller said he and some neighborhood leaders have suggested that any project include a sign indicating the station’s presence.

The city’s formal Request for Proposals requires that each bid include “integrated public parking of no less than 45 public parking spaces within the property.”

Besides the theater proposal, the other two projects include retail development on the first floor with mixed uses on the upper floors, said Calvert, who is familiar with their components.

He said all of the proposals include two levels of underground parking.

The bids were due back Nov. 4.

Developers were encouraged to propose multi-story projects. The city’s request sought a minimum project bid of $332,500, based on the parcel’s appraised value.

“The property shall also be subject to Fountain Square Historic Guidelines under the jurisdiction of the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission,” the city bid document says.